Page 79 of Valkyrie Unknown

This wasn’t home. The closest thing I had to a home was in Salt Lake and I couldn’t go back. Davyn would catch up to me, we’d regroup, and we’d find a new place to go. We’d be more careful this time, and not settle into an easily trackable routine.

My feet were frozen to the ground. Every time I tried to pull out the words to say‘kay, bye, a powerful wave of resistance stopped me.

Magic? Fate?

Stubborn horniness.

There was a loud slamming sound against the outside door, and Zeke and I both jumped. My heart hammered against my ribs. Was that a body hitting the building?

In a blink, I had both blades in my hands, and the power of the matched set coursed through my veins. “Are you expecting visitors?” I asked.

It looked like Zeke saidno, but. Another crash against the door drowned out his voice. Then there was another noise and another. The frame groaned.

His door was steel framed in concrete. What the fuck was out there?

Zeke sprinted toward his room, as I slid into a defensive posture.

Metal creaked, then rock splintered through the air, striking me in the face and arms. My T-shirt and jeans kept the covered portions of me safe, and now that I had both knives again, the cuts on my exposed skin healed quickly.

Zeke was back, gun in hand, taking up a position next to me. I couldn’t go hand-to-hand if he was shooting—that was dangerous for me and would obstruct him.

It hadn’t been an issue in the alley a few days ago.

Draugar spilled in through the newly-widened doorway, and ambled toward us.

“I’ll go around the edges.” Combat mode activated.

“I’ve got your back,” Zeke said.

Past experience said that knocking them down wasn’t the goal, and I had my wits about me today so I could fight them the right way. I worked my way through one edge of the wave, while Zeke started at the other. Each time he fired, the hollow echo screeched in my eardrums, leaving my ears ringing, but I had my own creatures to deal with.

I drew out one at a time, slicing at limbs to slow them down, and decapitating each beast as I reached it. Within seconds, Zeke’s gunfire became as much a part of the background as the Draugr’s loud groans.

The tiny whisper in the back of my head said I couldn’t trust Zeke. This was dangerous.

Fuck that fear. We moved in a synchronization that took me months to start to have with Davyn. If one of us barked an order, the other one was already acting.

A draugr would fall next to me, thanks to a bullet to the brain, and I would slide low through the pack to pick one off from behind if it got too close to my gunman.

I didn’t know how long we fought for, and I lost track of how many Draugar we executed. When the last one fell, I was poised for another. It took me a minute to convince my brain there weren’t anymore.

There was no message. NoLoki sends his love.

Why not?

Everything in Zeke’s forge, including the two of us, was covered in ash and shrapnel.

It was messy.

It was horrifying.

It was because I’d stayed. “This was a mistake.” I rubbed my cheek with the back of my hand, and pulled away with fresh soot covering the back of my wrist. “I shouldn’t have come here and I definitely shouldn’t have hung around.” The words were more for my sake than his. if I vocalized the thoughts, maybe I’d pay attention to myself this time.

“This isn’t your fault.” Zeke reached for me, and my breath caught. He barely touched my hair, and pulled away with a piece of exploded flannel between his fingers.

Clothing from one of the beasts.

I stepped back, needing distance between us. “It was. It is. They’re here for me. Unless you’ve dealt with this before.”

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